The answers to many environmental and economic problems, are staring us in the face. Having been a truck driver, I'm rather fond of diesel engines...minus the emissions. But, the engines last a hell of a lot longer than gasoline engines. And technology for clean Diesels has been around for a while...google duece and a half...so why aren't we investing efforts in clean bio diesel? And I'm not talking about skimming from our grain supply. Our politicians are making US look like idiots.

You can have your clean diesels. I want to see electric vehicles with batteries allowing for 400 mile range and capable of doing interstate speeds. Oh and with enough power to climb I-80 up and over the Sierras without poking along in the slow lane.

When there's people riding electric motorcycles in SF that go 35 miles for $0.35 per charge....seeing that taken a lot further IMHO is the way to go.

In short the only use I want to see for petroleum products is in manufacturing and for lubrication...but not as the primary fuel source. And I'm no fan of bio fuels...when you've seen the foundation crack on a 150 year old farm house in Nebraska in the past year because so many farmers are sucking water out for corn that the water table has dropped 40+ feet....yeah biofuels at least plant based are NOT the answer.

Kinetic V ~~~~~~I bring order to chaos. And I bring chaos to those who deserve it, wherever that may be.

Ranger Genius wrote:Advocating electric cars because you oppose fossil fuel use is a bit dense, since 80 percent of our power comes from coal. Make it electric cars and nuclear power, and you may be on to something.

Having seen the first hand massive rape of Wyoming that's going on in the Powder River basin and the West Virginia mountaintop removal disaster I'm no fan of coal. But I am a fan of nuclear....providing we can push forward on ways to handle the waste that does not involve 55 gallon drums of it being stored outside on powerplant property for decades. In fact I've been one of the voices lobbying for Ameren UE to build a second reactor at their Callaway site in Missouri so I don't just talk about it, I've been pushing for it for years. (That expansion is closer to happening now then it's ever been, environmental permit studies are underway)

I'm a big fan of electric power because of my interest in railroads and their history. When the early railroads needed to move things fast and efficiently over steep grades or with raw power and speed they went electric. 2 examples come to mind...the Great Northern used electrification back in the early 1900's on the Cascade Tunnel section of their line, and the Pennsylvania rolled out the GG1 which today's AC locomotives still can't truly compare to. The bottom line is electrification has a proven history, and the idea of applying today's innovations to the tried and true and getting greater efficiencies from it is exciting to me.

Kinetic V ~~~~~~I bring order to chaos. And I bring chaos to those who deserve it, wherever that may be.

TOM check this shit out if you havent already....this guy spoke at TED and blew my mind.

I like that! Like I said a lot of answers to our energy problems are staring us in the face. Wind, geothermal and Solar are, IMHO what will be powering us in the future. Our infrastructure is set up for internal combustion, and a switch to bio diesel would be a less dramatic change, as we ween ourselves of fossil fuels. The algae idea has been around a little while, and would not affect our food supply. It was estimated, in one report, that an algae farm taking up the space equal to 1/10th the size of New Mexico, would fuel our entire country.

I'm a little pissed that Raygun derailed our solar research...and removed the solar panels from the white house. With the middle east going through its changes, we need to start imagining a world with higher prices for crude oil, and start focusing on better alternatives.....we should have done that decades ago.

I'm sure there are enough resources in them for it being worthwhile to recycle them. I just hope they don't end up in third world countries, taken apart with no consideration for environmental concerns by people risking thier own health to do so.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

I usually run biodiesel in my Jetta. Not because I think its the thing to do or its the saving grace for our alledged energy problems or I'm going green but because it supposedly provides better lubrication then regular diesel for the pump and injectors. If anything, I think the car smokes more when I step on it with bio then regular diesel. I get it from a company in Minden that makes it from WVO and they also grow their own canola for use. They also supply biodiesel for many, not all, of the generators at the event.
There was an individual in Wabuska, near Yerington, that was investing in starting an algae farm to make biodiesel from said source. Don't now how its coming along.

But if only the "Drill Here, Drill Now" and the "Drill Baby Drill" mentality could be pounded into the folks in DC, prices might start inching down instead of going up .05 cents daily....at the pump.
Just my humble opinion.

My cats are cuter than your grandkids!

"Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan